as powerful as a dragon (as caring as an angel)
by isaacswolfsbane
Summary: Charlie's an angel bored of Heaven. Draco's a human with a name meaning dragon. His life has to be more interesting than Heaven, right? Charlie's about to find out.


**as powerful as a dragon (as caring as an angel)**

Since the dawn of time, whispers of angels have been heard globally. Though little physical evidence of their existence has been found, belief is widespread and unwavering. It is said that those visited by an angel—whether briefly or for a lifetime—are destined for greatness. The chosen ones are not those who wish for an angel in their life, but those who need one.

* * *

Charlie's wings spread out across the floor as he lay on his back staring up at… well, nothing. Heaven wasn't exactly a scenic place. He had places to go, sure, but those places consisted of watching the human world through portals of different time periods. There were other angels, of course, but gone were the days of having any fun with them. Once upon a time, Charlie had raced with the others, golden wings beating faster than anyone else could manage. One by one, however, Charlie's friends had got bored of losing, or they'd visited the human realm. His last friend, an angel by the name of Oliver who loved to fly as much as Charlie, had visited a boy named Percy in the human world and Charlie was left with nobody to race.

"Everybody in this place is so dull," Charlie muttered to himself. He didn't even care that those watching the portal nearby could probably hear him.

Charlie longed to visit the human world, to be free to fly with the winged beasts that lived there—he would be happy to fly alongside anything, but if he could pick, Charlie would choose to fly with dragons without hesitation. The problem was that to get to the human world, Charlie had to choose a human, and the prospect of choosing a human terrified Charlie. What if they were destined for a short life? What if they didn't like him? What if they didn't give him the freedom to fly with the winged beasts?

But Charlie's patience with Heaven was wearing thin.

Deciding he needed some excitement in his life, Charlie jumped to his feet and set off towards the nearest portal. He couldn't have been there for longer than thirty seconds before Charlie knew that it wasn't the right time period for him—it only took him that long because he was busy scouring the world for dragons before he saw Queen Victoria sitting on the throne of England (he had never been a fan of Victorian England). The second portal he looked at he spent longer deliberating on. He was intrigued by a boy with colour-changing hair but ultimately decided the time period was slightly too modern for his tastes (he didn't really understand the appeal of the internet).

It was the third time period he stopped by that captured his interests entirely. He almost passed it up, not wanting to disturb the uneasy peace that had settled in the aftermath of a war, when a name lit a fire inside of his chest and Charlie knew he had found the human he wanted to choose.

He placed a hand against the entryway and whispered the name into the air. And then he was falling.

Falling.

Falling.

 _Crash_.

* * *

Draco rubbed the sides of his temples, attempting to curb the headache he could feel coming. If he could just get through the rest of the application he would be okay. Why did Healer applications have to be so damn long anyway? Shouldn't it be enough that he wanted to help? If the war had taught Draco anything, it was that he wanted to help people, and not just because it would help to clear his family's name (that thought hadn't actually entered his mind until after he'd received the form).

With a sigh, he picked up his quill and started scratching an answer down to question 5a. "What impact do you think your employment would have on the staff and/or efficiency of St Mungo's Hospital?"

 _Crash._

Draco had barely written a sentence when the noise made him physically jolt from his seat and splatter ink across the page. Annoyingly, he was the only one in the manor so it fell to him to investigate the source of the noise.

Rolling his eyes as hard as he did when he stepped outside probably didn't help Draco's headache, but when the first thing he saw was his father's peacocks running chaotically around the garden, he couldn't help himself.

He was about to head back inside, assuming it was just the peacocks causing havoc that he'd heard, when a brilliant spark of gold caught his eye in a place where it shouldn't have been. Usually, there was a bird feeder stood at the back of the garden, but in its place was a mound of what looked like gold feathers.

Draco took his wand from his pocket and started to carefully approach the scene in front of him. He was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for that many feathers to be in his garden when it moved. For a split second, Draco considered Apparating back to the door of the house, but as it moved, he noticed it was somewhat human-like. Except it had wings.

 _Well, shit._

* * *

As he straightened up, Charlie mentally cursed himself. He was supposed to land gracefully and go and knock on the door. Everyone else managed it, so why did he have to be the one idiot that fell face-first into a bird feeder?

"Hi. Er… I'm Charlie." He held out his hand expectantly.

The expression on the blond boy's face as he looked at Charlie would have fit in well at a funeral. Charlie wasn't sure what he'd done to upset the boy, but it was definitely directed at him.

There was a moment of silence before he said, "Draco."

He didn't shake Charlie's offered hand, though, and Charlie was once more left wondering what he had done to upset Draco.

"So what are you doing here?" Draco asked in a tone of voice that even Charlie could tell meant 'go away'.

"I don't understand," Charlie said. "I thought you'd be that happy I'm here. I thought humans liked angels."

Draco rolled his eyes but thankfully he didn't reply—Charlie suspected that if he had, it wouldn't have been something pleasant.

Turning on his heel, Draco headed back into the house and Charlie, unsure what else to do, followed behind him.

If he thought the house looked grand from the outside, it was nothing compared to the interior. Charlie's eye was immediately caught by a low-hanging silver chandelier over the dining room table that seemed to reflect back more light than was hitting it creating an effect that made it look like it was made of sparkling diamonds (it probably was). There was an ornate fireplace just behind the head of the table that was carved with snakes and held two very heavy-looking candlesticks.

He followed Draco through the hall and as they passed the open door to the lounge he spotted a rustic, dark green leather sofa and armchair set that, while they were nice to look at, Charlie couldn't believe they would be comfortable to sit on.

The chandelier in the entrance hall was almost identical to the one in the dining room, only it was twice as large. That wasn't what captured Charlie's attention, though. The staircase was huge—easily fitting four or five people standing side-by-side—with railings so intricately carved that Charlie could have spent hours looking at the designs and still not have fully taken it in. He wondered how Draco had felt growing up in a place where the architecture and design overshadowed the inhabitants.

Draco led him to a room on one of the upper floors and opened the door for him.

"This is your room," he told Charlie in a rather clipped tone. "You've got an ensuite. If you want the grand tour it'll have to wait until the weekend."

"Er, thanks," Charlie said, stepping into the room. It wasn't as grand as any of the rooms he'd seen so far, but it was still fancier than anywhere Charlie had stayed previously.

He turned to ask what he'd done to make Draco so annoyed with him, but the other boy had already left.

With a sigh, he sank onto the four-poster bed and wondered if he'd made a mistake in leaving heaven.

* * *

Draco kicked the back of his chair before he sank down at his desk. Why did an angel have to show up at his house? He supposed on some ironic level it all made sense; he had been on the 'dark' side of the war, so to speak, so a visit from a being the epitome of light was probably a just punishment. He just hated that he had shown up in the middle of applying or healer training—he only had twenty-four hours until the application had to be sent in. Of course, he _could_ have filled it out two weeks ago when he got it, but somehow Draco hadn't found the time to do it.

He vanished the spilled ink on his application form and read over what he had already written.

 _I have always been exceptionally gifted in potions and charms, consistently being within the two highest achieving students of his year in both subjects. While at Hogwarts, I successfully mastered non-verbal magic within two weeks of lessons on the topic starting and have since taught myself a small amount of wandless magic. If I were accepted into the training program, I would be fast to learn the potions and spells needed and just as quick to recall them when healing patients._

Draco sighed. It wasn't the best thing he'd ever written, he was aware of that, but with an angel in the house, Draco didn't think he'd have much time alone to complete the form.

 _5b. Would your employment cause any negative impact on the staff and/or efficiency of St Mungo's Hospital?_

He chewed his lip for a moment—a habit his parents hated but had never been able to train out of him—as he mulled over how to answer the question. Eventually, he decided that there was no point in hiding his past; whoever was reading the forms would likely know it anyway.

 _As a Malfoy and a former Death Eater, I believe the staff and patients may take some time to trust that I would be able to care for patients. However, I am aiming to make up for the mistakes I made in my past and would hope that with hard work and a dedication to the wellbeing of the patients I would be able to shed the reputation that comes with my previous title._

A slight creak to Draco's left made him look up. In the doorway stood Charlie. He was shorter than Draco had first thought, probably standing a good two or three inches below Draco, and his wings were neatly folded into his back, though Draco could still see a hint of gold over the redhead's shoulders.

"Why are you here?" Draco asked, hoping the bluntness in his voice would scare off the angel.

"There isn't very much to do in my room. I got bored."

"So you came to find me."

Charlie nodded.

"And what exactly made you think I'd entertain you?"

"You're more interesting than the other angels in Heaven. I thought you'd be doing _something_."

Draco wasn't sure how to handle the angel. He just wanted to be rid of the angel and since nothing had worked so far, he figured it couldn't hurt to just tell him to leave.

"Look," he said. "If you're here to burden someone with glorious purpose, go bother Potter. I don't want it."

"But he's not the chosen one, you are."

Draco had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself laughing out of shock. He wondered if the angel even realised how ironic that statement was.

"Chosen one?" he asked. It was all Draco could manage to say without breaking out into laughter.

"Yes. In order for an angel to visit Earth, they have to choose a human to tie their life to. I chose you. Not that it seems to be going very well."

"Why did you pick _me_?"

"Your name means dragon, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. What does that have to do with it?"

"So… do you have one?"

"Do I… Do I have a dragon? Why would anyone in their right mind have a dragon?"

"Haven't you ever seen one? They're gorgeous."

" _Gorgeous?_ They're fucking terrifying." It was then that Draco finally clicked why the angel has picked him. "Wait, you chose me because you thought I had a fucking dragon? Merlin, you're more deluded than I thought."

* * *

To his parents' annoyance, Draco spent as much time as he could avoiding the angel—he refused to think of him as Charlie—which meant he hadn't had time to worry about whether he was going to get into healer training or not. At least, that was until he heard the angel shouting about a winged beast and he went downstairs to find an unfamiliar owl perched on the feeder by the front door with a scroll attached to its leg.

Carefully, Draco removed the scroll and stared down at the St Mungo's seal holding it closed.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?"

Draco had found himself rolling his eyes a lot more since the angel had arrived, and this was no exception. He was about to find out the course of his entire future and he couldn't even get a moment to prepare.

Sliding a finger along the overlap, Draco prised the seal away and unrolled the parchment.

 _Dear Mr Malfoy,_

 _After careful consideration, the team at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries has decided they would like to offer you a place on our training course._

 _Ordinarily, someone with a past such as yours would not be considered for a place with us, but the war was fought to put an end to prejudice and I would not wish to discriminate someone based on their mistakes. Your application was very well put together and your references were spectacular—including those we sourced from persons you had not listed._

 _Please be aware you will be watched with a careful eye, and while there are those of us who trust you will do your best to respect the staff, hospital, and patients, there are some who may look upon you unfavourably. Do not let that be your downfall, Mr Malfoy. I believe you are destined for great things at this Hospital._

 _Marjorie Mallary,_

 _Head Healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries._

Behind the first sheet of parchment rested another which contained starting dates, a time slot to be measured for his uniform, and a list of equipment he would be required to provide himself.

He couldn't believe it. He had actually got in. Sure, the letter wasn't the most promising. It was clear he was a special case—his acceptance letter had been penned personally by the head Healer and didn't follow the usual format—but he was still in, and Draco couldn't help but let a grin spread across his face.

"I assume it's good news since you're smiling. Congratulations, Dragon."

"Thanks," Draco replied absentmindedly, not noticing that Charlie had called him Dragon.

* * *

The next few weeks were a blur for Draco. He had so much to prepare for starting work at St Mungo's that he barely spent any time at home, and the time he did spend at home he used to go over the spells and potions he had learnt at Hogwarts that might be useful in the future. It was enjoyable, though. Draco was happy he was finally doing something useful with his time instead of staring at the same four walls.

When he finally started training, his days were often long and gruelling, but they were certainly rewarding. On his second day, he was asked to help out in the Janus Thickey Ward and learnt that Neville Longbottom's parents were permanent residents there. The knowledge made him regret how he had treated Neville at Hogwarts—he didn't have it easy, and Draco probably hadn't helped with that—and when he got home he penned a letter to Neville that, if someone looked hard enough, could almost be counted as an apology. The next day, Draco was told he was no longer allowed to assist in the ward after a complaint from a member of the public. It was a little disheartening, but between being determined to be the best student in the teaching portion and the amount of work they were doing while on duty, Draco didn't have time to dwell over it.

The workload helped to keep his mind off the fact that the other trainees, even Theo who had been a close friend at school, didn't like to spend time with him. He wasn't sure if it was his name or the Dark Lord's brand that still scarred his arm, but his colleagues didn't seem to trust him no matter how hard he tried.

At home, things weren't any better. When he got in, all he wanted to do was collapse into bed and sleep, but there was always a mountain of homework to complete first, and when that was done, he had to deal with the fact that he had a freaking angel living with him.

At the end of his second week, Draco could tell he was getting close to his breaking point. He just didn't know how to fix anything that was going on in his life.

"Dragon, why don't you let me go to work with you?" Charlie asked almost the second Draco stepped out of the fireplace.

It wasn't the first time Charlie had asked, and while Draco wanted to tell the angel to fuck off just like every time before, he figured he should probably talk to the angel. It was the easiest part of his life to fix, after all.

"I've read the training handbook. I know you're allowed to take me." There was a pause before Charlie added in a small voice, "Are you ashamed of me, Dragon?"

Draco couldn't decide how to react. Part of his was surprised that Charlie had taken the time to read about his job, part of him was annoyed that Charlie was still hanging around, and part of him was hurt that Charlie would think he was something to be ashamed of.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to call me Dragon before you'll stop?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes. "I'm not ashamed of you, _Chad_ ," he said, trying to convey both sincerity and humour in his tone. "I just never thought about it. I didn't think it would be something that interested you."

If Charlie noticed Draco call him the wrong name, he didn't say anything. "I've spent a lifetime in Heaven surrounded by the same boring place and boring angels. I didn't come to earth to stay surrounded by the same walls. I came because I wanted to know how it felt to truly live."

"Tomorrow, then. We leave at 8." Draco hesitated before asking, "Can angels use the Floo Network?"

"I have no idea. I guess we'll find out tomorrow morning."

Draco nodded and made his way up to his room. It wasn't until he was laying on his bed that he realised he'd stopped thinking of Charlie as 'the angel'. He wondered when it had happened for a moment, then realised it was probably around the same time he figured Charlie was the closest thing he had to a friend.

Dragging himself to his desk, he settled in to complete his homework as quickly as possible—if he was going to have an angel with him at work tomorrow, he was going to need as much sleep as he could get.

* * *

It turned out that angels could travel by Floo, not that Charlie had been particularly good at it. He'd started shouting about how amazing it was ("Dragon, that's so fast! Even I couldn't fly here that fast!") as soon as Draco stepped out of the fireplace into the staff room. He just rolled his eyes and left Charlie to explore while he changed into his uniform.

"Is that an angel?"

"I wonder whose it is."

"What's an angel doing here?"

"I didn't think they really existed."

"Are they even allowed to be here?"

Draco couldn't help but chuckle to himself as the comments of his fellow trainees filtered into the changing room through the slightly ajar door. If he could, he'd put money on none of them guessing Charlie had come with him.

Theo pushed the door open and walked in, already unbuttoning his shirt. "Any idea whose angel that is?" he asked Draco.

"You're asking me?" Draco was stunned. He was pretty sure that was the first thing Theo had said to him since starting training that wasn't to do with work.

Theo scratched the back of his head. "Er, yeah. Listen, mate, I'm sorry I haven't really spoken to you. I assumed you were just here to clear your name and you'd bail after a week when you found out how hard it was. You never exactly showed a desire to do something for anyone other than yourself while at school." Theo chuckled weakly. "But, you're still here so I guess you are legit. Sorry I misjudged you."

"Thanks, I think."

"Anyway, do you know who brought the angel with them?"

Draco swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. It was now or never he supposed.

"Yeah. He's, er, he's with me."

At the look of shock on Theo's face, Draco couldn't help but crack up.

"Are you shitting me?"

"He crashed into my garden a month or so ago. Scared the shit out of my father's peacocks."

"No way!" Theo laughed. "I can't wait to tell Blaise. He'll never believe Draco Malfoy of all people got visited by a fucking angel."

Draco finished dressing and left Theo in the changing room to face whatever chaos Charlie was undoubtedly causing in the staffroom.

"Dragon, why didn't you tell me everyone here was so nice? I thought they'd all be horrible considering how miserable you always are when you get home."

Draco cursed inwardly. Why hadn't he told Charlie not to call him Dragon at work? If he knew anything about the people he worked with, it was that they'd never let it go.

"Wait, you mean _Draco Malfoy_ has an angel?" one of the trainees asked. Draco thought her name was Lisa. "I don't believe it. This has to be some sort of joke, right?"

"I think it's rather poetic," Theo said, appearing behind him. "He was always the biggest arsehole at school, now he's been graced by a visit from a being the polar opposite. It's funny how the world works like that sometimes."

Draco punched Theo on the arm lightly. "Dick."

Once he'd made the breakthrough with Theo, Draco started to find work a much more bearable place and the workload no longer seemed so heavy. Sure, he had to deal with Charlie, and with people asking about Charlie, but he had a friend in Theo again, and Charlie's presence seemed to brighten the mood of everyone else.

The real benefit of having Charlie around was with the patients. None of them had ever seen an angel before, and just knowing they existed seemed to boost the morals of those in long-term care or critically ill conditions.

It wasn't long before Draco and Charlie developed a routine. They'd Floo in together in the mornings, Draco would spend the morning doing his work and Charlie would visit some of the wards. They'd meet for lunch with Theo and exchange stories, and Charlie would shadow Draco in the afternoon. He wouldn't say he was friends with Charlie, exactly, but the conversation flowed easily and Draco didn't want to stab himself in the eyes whenever Charlie was around anymore which was a definite improvement.

"Malfoy," Healer Willis called one evening as Draco was getting ready to leave. "You're on assignment next week. You'll be assisting the on-call healers. Make sure you're prepared."

* * *

Draco checked he had everything one last time before grabbing a handful of Floo Powder and excitedly saying, "St Mungo's Hospital, staff entrance." He had been waiting for the opportunity to assist the on-call healers since he'd started. It was the unofficial test to see if a trainee was ready to graduate to a full-time healer.

When he got to work, he changed into his uniform quickly and practically ran to the front desk to ask where to go. He didn't even notice Charlie was following him until he was around the corner from the office he had been directed to.

"Why are you following me? Don't you go play with the patients in the morning?"

"Normally, but what you're doing sounds way more fun, Dragon."

Draco rolled his eyes. "It isn't supposed to be fun, _Carl_. I'm going to heal people who are too wounded to make it to the hospital."

"Then they sound like they're gonna need an angel for support more than the people here."

Draco ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. " _Connor_ , look, it's going to be intense and potentially dangerous depending on what caused the damage. I can't have you there distracting me. Please, just stay here."

"No." Charlie's voice was steady and controlled. "If you're going out there and risking your neck, I'm coming with you."

"Fine, just don't get in—"

Draco's words were cut off by the office door opening.

"Well, are you two coming in or are you going to stand out here bickering forever?" Healer Lahey asked.

He stood back to open the door fully and Draco gave the man a sheepish nod as he entered the room.

"Right, now you're here I can explain how this works. Healer Morris is situated in reception. If an emergency call comes through he alerts us by using these wristbands." Healer Lahey handed a wristband each to Draco and Charlie. "They heat up when Morris presses a button on the side of his. They also allow you to Apparate within the hospital. We are to join him in reception immediately and respond to the emergency call. Obviously, Charlie can't Apparate, Malfoy I expect you to side along Apparate him downstairs. Is everything clear?"

"Yes, sir," Draco said.

At the same time, Charlie asked, "Apparate?"

Before Draco had a chance to answer, he could feel his wristband heating up.

"I expect you're about to find out," Healer Lahey said as he Disapparated.

Draco grabbed Charlie's arm. "Hold on tight and close your eyes. You might feel a bit sick since it's your first time."

Charlie didn't even have enough time to voice the "what?" that was on the tip of his tongue before Draco Disapparated and the pair were twisting through space and landing on the floor of reception.

"15.6 seconds. Healer Lahey explained this was Charlie's first time Apparating and you would need to explain so I'll excuse you. Next time, I expect you here faster. You are dismissed to do as you like for now."

"That," Charlie said, "was too fast. I'm not sure I like Apparating, Dragon."

Draco was about to head back upstairs when a voice in the fireplace stopped him.

"Help!" it shrieked. "My daughter. I came home and she's unconscious… it… it doesn't look pretty. We're at Seventeen Mill Lane."

"Well, you were certainly faster this time, I'll give you that," Healer Morris joked. "Now you heard the man. Go!"

Healer Lahey was already throwing a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace. Draco went next.

"Seventeen Mill Lane!"

* * *

The man making the emergency call hadn't been wrong. When Charlie stepped out of the fireplace behind Draco, he couldn't see anything that could be described as pretty. The house was half destroyed; it looked as if there had been a fight recently. There were scorch marks and blood splatters on the walls and the girl, presumably the daughter, that Draco and Healer Lahey were kneeling over had a gaping gash up her side.

Strangely enough, Charlie couldn't see the girl's father anywhere. He could have been ordered out of the room by Healer Lahey, though, so Charlie thought nothing more of it.

He wandered over to where Draco and Healer Lahey were discussing what the best way to help the girl was, but despite being in the hospital for over a month, Charlie had no idea what half of the things they were saying meant.

Eventually, he found himself inspecting the room once more. Draco had been right about this not being as interesting as it sounded, but Charlie was still glad he had come. There was something not quite right about the scene, but Charlie couldn't quite place his finger on it. It looked like there had been a fight, but everything looked too neat. The way the walls were ruined resembled a pattern, each scorch mark and blood splatter evenly spaced. There was no layering, nowhere with a patch of blood denser than the rest; the furniture wasn't telling the story of a struggle either.

"Uh, guys, something isn't right. You might want to come and see this," Healer Morris called from the back of the house.

As Draco started to move, Charlie saw a movement in the shadow of the staircase. A flash of green light flew from the bottom of the staircase and Charlie dived on top of Draco, shoving him out of the way of the spell.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Healer Lahey shouted. A moment later, there was a thud and a man Charlie didn't recognise lay petrified on the floor.

Charlie didn't have any time to marvel at the quick reflexes of Healer Lahey, though, before Draco was roughly shaking Charlie.

"What the fuck was that?" Draco demanded. "You dived in front of the _Killing Curse_. You could have died! You're lucky it didn't hit you."

So that was what the man had said. Charlie had vaguely been aware of him speaking, but he didn't know what the words had meant.

"It did hit me," Charlie said. "Right here." He turned to show Draco the whole that had been blasted in the side of his shirt.

"Hey, that's my shirt," Draco said. "I liked that shirt." It was a moment before realisation dawned in Draco's eyes. "It hit you? Why aren't you dead?"

"I told you. My life is tied to yours, Dragon. Angels are immortal. We can only die when the human we have chosen does."

"Oh." Draco's voice was small and Charlie could tell he wasn't sure how to respond. "Well, I'm glad you didn't die," he said eventually.

Charlie couldn't help but smile. He'd chosen the boy with the dragon name in the hopes of flying with one. What he found instead was a human with a heart a powerful as a dragon's fire. Charlie would just have to teach Draco how to use it properly.

* * *

 **Word Count:** 5,183.

* * *

 **AN:** I'm intending to add more to this, whether as an update to this or a second chapter I'm unsure of. Either way, it'll be before the end of the month.

* * *

 **This is for:**

 _ **Hogwarts World Cup Event – Denmark;  
**_ _(quote) 'In Heaven, all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche._

 _ **Other challenges to be added when I update.**_


End file.
